I'd like to share this experience here, since it shows very well how important awareness, skill, the right tool and decisive action are.

Below is a copy for the original post from a student of our Instructor Group. He is located in Indiana.

Real Life Use of a Defensive Knife

This is the story of my girlfriend, who I’ll call Gina (as a nod to the mixed martial artist & action film star beauty, Gina Carano) and her friend, who I’d like to call **** Show, but out of deference to Gina, I’ll dub her Lindsay (after Lohan), the assault they suffered and Gina’s defensive use of her edc knife.

The Event:

Gina & Lindsay went to dinner in a nice part of town and then drove across the street for a drink at a very nice, clean, bar. Lindsay had too many and started making friends with strangers, two of whom (Evil & Demon) moved down the bar to sit near them. Gina’s in the habit of finishing her drink before she ever goes to the ladies’ room and doesn’t order another one until she gets back…no extra ingredients for her, thank you very much. She returns to find that Lindsay’s new friends have paid for both of their tabs and want them to come back to a hotel with them.

Gina rebukes them and drags Lindsay out and starts the lecture on bad decisions…again. The two guys follow them out of the bar and Lindsay switches gears and starts berating Evil. Evil lunges forward grabbing Lindsay by the arm, spinning her around into a slap. Demon rushes Gina, pushing her against the car and groping her. Gina pushes Demon away and draws the Spyderco Delica that has been clipped to her right pocket for the last couple months.

As she described it to me, she drew & opened it one handed, looked to her right to see Evil, who’s back was to her, land his second slap, looked back to see Demon coming towards her with his arms opening in a bear hug with a look on his face that is still bothering her.

She slashes Demon across his left forearm which immediately sprouts blood as he yelps, grabs it with his right hand and jumps back a few steps. She looks right to see Evil drawing his hand back again, steps across the 2-3 feet separating them and slashes him across his right triceps. Evil lets go of Lindsay to grab at his wound, Gina hustles her into the car and speeds far, far away while watching for lights in her rearview mirror.

Gina is freaked out, Lindsay is in full blown hyperventilation and ‘woe is me’ dramatics, they make it home safe, if not completely sound.

The Aftermath:

Gina is a little messed up from it all. She’s thrown a punch before, but she’s sure as hell never cut open two men before. She’s had a couple of scary moments, but she’s never been the 1 of the “1 in 3 women that will be sexually assaulted” before.

I told her how proud I was of her for saving herself and her friend; hell, I roared about it!

I completely missed how much victim guilt & humiliation she was feeling. Once I realized this, I put her in touch with an LEO bro that’s also a certified crisis counselor for his department. He took her report and checked all the surrounding jurisdictions and hospitals for incident reports with no results

Gina did well but she needs better friends: Gina may not be able to defend herself and this so-called friend each and every time this so-called friend decides to leave her brains at home.

if Gina does not take this as a wakeup call to dump the so-called friend or at least not go out drinking with her, then she's not as smart as she thinks. if the so-called friend doesn't take it seriously, she doesn't deserve Gina as a friend.

glad Gina filed a report. glad she had situational awareness and, hopefully, there won't be a repeat incident. never know: these guys may keep an eye out for her and the so-called friend.

congrats to Gina but its time for her to stop and think about why this came about in the first place and if she doesn't like feeling like a victim, she needs to ditch her victim friend.

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"Her hands, her comfort, her confidence, her choice.", Mr K re buying a gun for a woman.

Gun Control: "The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own pantyhose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound."-- as seen on a t-shirt

One, choose your friends carefully, especially if you have a CCW.If you're around a friend who instigates a fight as Gina's associate did, its not going to look good in court that you killed a man as a result of a friend's poor choice of words. Its one of the reasons why I keep my CCW status extremely private, because macho dirtbag acquaintances know you're armed and will feel their invincible because of it. "You got a gun right? You'll back me up right? Watch me cuss out the 6'7" bodybuilder right quick...."

Second lesson;avoid provoking a fight at all reasonable cost. This applies to men as much as it does the women. Its not wise for a young woman to get trashed and taunt two guys who could physically overpower her. Its also unwise for a man to pick up a girl only to be end up face to face with her jilted boyfriend or husband. Should you end up generating a body in the ensuing "discussion", it won't look good in court that it all began because you tried to get into the pants of the victim's mate.

Its good this situation turned out the way it did. Its also possible that both women could be occupants of the coroner's or the ICU, knife or no knife, but for one woman's lack of judgement. Its one thing to end up in a life or death conflict over factors you don't control. Its another entirely to end up in a deadly incident over preventable BS.

Sobering story... Just had my g/f read this in the hopes of getting her a little more proactive in having a mind for self defense. She's an excellent shot and a quick thinker, but it's situations like this where being good law abiding citizens, we don't have best tools available to defend ourselves, and a good knife and keeping the right mindset can make the difference. Thanks for sharing.

Sobering story... Just had my g/f read this in the hopes of getting her a little more proactive in having a mind for self defense. She's an excellent shot and a quick thinker, but it's situations like this where being good law abiding citizens, we don't have best tools available to defend ourselves, and a good knife and keeping the right mindset can make the difference. Thanks for sharing.

Thank you for the feedback - and I wholeheartedly agree with you: Mindset paired with skill and the right tool can make THE difference in how things turn out in the end.

Picking the right friends is so important no matter how skilled you are. The best fights are the ones you never get into. Glad Gina made it through this one.

so says Art of War....and i totally agree.

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"Her hands, her comfort, her confidence, her choice.", Mr K re buying a gun for a woman.

Gun Control: "The theory that a woman found dead in an alley, raped and strangled with her own pantyhose, is somehow morally superior to a woman explaining to police how her attacker got that fatal bullet wound."-- as seen on a t-shirt